COGDELL, WILLIAM K.

Remains identified May 24, 1994 -- UPI reported "shot down over Laos in
November 1967"

Name:  William K. Cogdell
Rank/Branch:  O2/USAF
Unit: 
Date of Birth: 15 March 1938
Home City of Record: Greentown, IN
Date of Loss: 17 January 1967
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 
Status (in 1973): Killed in Action/Body not Recovered
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: T28D
Refno: 0571
Other Personnel in Incident: None

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project and the P.O.W. NETWORK 2 April
1992 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government
agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources,
interviews.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Captain Cogdell was the pilot of a T-28 aircraft on a search and
rescue mission when he was reported missing in action. The T-28 was observed
to receive heavy ground fire in the right wing, roll to the right, crash and
burn.

Evidence of death was received in the Department of the Air Force on Captain
Cogdell on January 19, 1967. Since his remains have not been recovered and
returned, he is listed by the Department of Defense as unaccounted for in
Southeast Asia.

In recent years, the numbers of remains returned from Vietnam and excavated
in Laos has increased dramatically. Government strategists happily point to
this as "progress" on the POW/MIA issue, although most of these remains are
still unidentified. Indeed, many families, having had independent studies of
the remains to assure accurate identification, now have answers to
long-awaited concerns about their loved ones. However, when remains are
positively identified, the U.S. Government closes the books and the search
for that missing man ends. Can we afford to close the books on an American
who may be alive waiting for his country to bring him home?

How many will serve in the next war knowing they may be abandoned?